Speakers

Ahmed has close to 2 decades of extensive experience in the hospitality industry. Having worked with several prominent brands including (Marriott, Hilton, IHG and Accor Hotels) across multiple continents and countries such as the Middle East, Europe and Asia; he holds a demonstrated history in driving business innovation, technology and contributing to organisational wins; with a well-rounded skills set in Operations & Change Management, Budgeting, Information Security and Talent Development. As Group Vice President for AccorInvest hotels, Ahmed leads and oversees all technology related transformations for 800 hotels globally . A visionary with a passion for change and evolution, his strategic focus continues to be driving innovation and digital transformation for the hotels.

Alburn has a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) from the National University of Singapore, specializing in thermal engineering, air conditioning and building services. He completed his professional education in F&B at Cornell University, with culinary experience at a standalone Italian restaurant. His professional experience includes a position as designer/site manager for a marine air conditioning and refrigeration company in Singapore. He has over 30 years of international experience in food and beverage concept work, restaurant planning, foodservice and laundry facilities design, solid waste consultancy for high-end projects such as Wynn Palace Cotai, Wynn Resort Macau, Sensi Bellagio, Sandy Lane Barbados, JW Marquis Dubai, City of Dreams Macau, Solaire Manila, Crown Towers Perth , Four Seasons Maldives, among others. He has conducted seminars and presented papers on HACCP, Conceptual space planning, open kitchen conceptualization, construction of quality food service facilities, and a variety of topics on foodservice consultancy and modular fabrication standardization. He has also lectured at hotel schools for the Chef’s Diploma program and conducted national hygiene programs for press release and television shows.

Albin has delivered F&B projects across Europe, Africa, Middle East, India & Asia Pacific, he is a foodservice design specialist with a keen understanding of foodservice operations, stakeholder and project management. He started his experience in F&B as a chef at age 15 and after working in various Michelin star restaurants in France, he trained in engineering of restaurant design. After moving to Australia, he designed F&B spaces for fine dining restaurants, international hotel chains, prisons, hospitals and passenger cruise ships. He is currently leading the foodservice design in the APAC region for the largest foodservice company in the world, British multinational Compass Group; with a focus on one of the world’s most innovative tech companies. Albin’s unique expertise enables him to effectively bridge the gap between the two worlds of design & operations, as well as fueling innovation, cultural change and optimisation and incorporating sustainable solutions into an ever growing business feeding hundreds of thousands of people a day.

As General Manager of InterContinental Singapore, the flagship hotel of IHG Hotels & Resorts in Singapore, Andreas Kraemer is responsible for driving the hotel’s strategic growth, overseeing operational excellence, and continuing to elevate the luxury positioning of this 403-room heritage hotel. A highly-established hotelier with over 27 years of hospitality experience in both city hotels and resorts, Andreas joined IHG Hotels & Resorts in 2016 at InterContinental Sanya Resort China, and most recently, at InterContinental Xiamen China. As General Manager, he was instrumental in driving revenue-generating programmes by identifying unique opportunities within key markets, delivering innovative guest experiences, and shaping and executing strong dining concepts for both properties. Prior to joining IHG, Andreas managed a diverse portfolio of luxury properties across key markets, starting his hospitality journey as Food & Beverage Manager at luxury hotels in Germany. Andreas led the team as Resort Manager at Six Senses in Koh Samui, before rising through the ranks to assume the role of General Manager at properties including KC Resort & Over Water Villas in Koh Samui, Thailand; Hilton Shillim Estate Retreat & Spa in Pune, India, where he oversaw the hotel’s pre-opening; and Wanda Realm in Harbin, China.

Ben Gregoire is a veteran of the hospitality industry, having worked in leadership roles in both operations and project development. He is a specialist in strategy planning and concept development for high end hospitality projects. His career spans over 20 years, beginning in his native Canada where he worked in operations roles for a world class golf resort and international hotels before completing a degree in Hotel Management and transitioning his career to China. He worked in multiple BOH and FOH operations roles as Food+Beverage Manager with Starwood hotels. He used this experience to transition into a role as Vice President of CKP Hospitality Consultants, leading the foodservice design and f+b concept development on some of the top projects in China, Southeast Asia and the Middle East for over a decade before launching Levels Studio in 2020. Levels Studio is a global group of hospitality consultants that specialize in food and beverage market studies, concept development and branding. They are experts in creating innovative f+b experiences from concept to construction for high-end hotels, casinos, bars and restaurants around the world.

Han Wei is a passionate IT professional who strives to improve guests’ experiences and productivity for his fellow employees, through innovative technology. He is also the President of HITAS (Hospitality Information Technology Association of Singapore), which was founded by him and 9 other like-minded IT professionals from the hotel industry, with the mission to provide a common platform for communicating and sharing of technological knowledge, skills and best practices amongst hospitality IT professionals and their partners.

Began her sales career in the hospitality industry with the Holiday Inn Penang before moving on to the then Regent Hotel Kuala Lumpur, Ms. Toh has been in the hospitality industry for the past 30 years. Known as a strategic leader with a crisp management and dynamic leadership style, Ms. Toh who is highly regarded in the hospitality world, joined Dorsett Kuala Lumpur in September 2001 as the General Manager and was promoted to be the Area General Manager in 2017 based at Dorsett Grand Subang. Ms. Toh strives to foster meaningful relationships with everyone that she comes in contact within the course of her work which can be extremely demanding. She has been actively serving on the Board of Malaysian Association of Hotels since 2002 starting at Chapter level to the National Board holding various positions. In May 2022, Ms. Toh was inaugurated as MAH newly elected President given firm support from the Board. She also made history as MAH first ever lady President of the association marking a new chapter for MAH leadership. Apart from various awards under her belt; Ms. Toh also possessed the Certified Hospitality Administrator (CHA) designation, issued by the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI), which is a highly respected professional credential that validates one’s advanced knowledge in the hospitality industry and holds an MBA in Hospitality Management.

Chef-Owner of Burnt Ends Hospitality Group that manages Burnt Ends, a One- Michelin starred modern barbecue restaurant and Meatsmith, the woodfired barbecue restaurant. Born in Perth, Western Australia, Pynt studied commercial cooking at the TAFE West Coast Institute of Training before travelling overseas to cook alongside and learn from some of the world’s best cooks. His career includes time with culinary heavyweights such as Rene Redzepi (Noma, Denmark), Victor Arguinzoniz (Asador Etxebarri, Spain), Nuno Mendes (Viajante and The Loft Project, London), Tetsuya Wakuda (Tetsuya’s, Sydney; Waku Ghin, Singapore) and Fergus Henderson (St John and St John Bread and Wine, London). Burnt Ends is a modern barbecue restaurant in Singapore’s Dempsey Hill serving modern Australian barbecue and boutique wines and spirits in a fun, relaxed atmosphere. At the heart of this modern barbecue restaurant is an open concept kitchen with a custom four-tonne, dual cavity oven and four elevation grills. Burnt Ends writes new menus daily and believes that there is magic that comes from cooking with wood. Since 2013, the restaurant has established itself as an integral part of Singapore’s new food order and the country’s historic Dempsey Hill. Collaboration remains one of Pynt’s key tenets and he has been involved in major food events and festivals around the world including Gastronomika (San Sebastian, Spain) the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (Melbourne, Australia), Taste of Hong Kong (Hong Kong), Tasting Australia (Adelaide, Australia), Meatopia (London, England), Postrivoro (Italy), Wonderfruit Music Festival (Chon Buri, Thailand) and E5 Bakery Music and Food Festival (London, England). Burnt Ends has held its One-Michelin star since first awarded in 2018. The restaurant is currently ranked #94 on the 2022 San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants List and #41 on the 2022 San Pellegrino Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants List. Pynt was the winner of the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Chef’s Choice Award 2017, a peer-voted accolated voted by all the chefs on the influential list.

Prof. Remy works for the Singapore Institute of Technology, SIT, Singapore as Associate Professor, teaching Revenue Management, Data Analytics and Digital Marketing whilst researching on Pricing and Revenue Management related topics amongst other research areas. Prof. Remy started his career in the hospitality & tourism industry in 1986, working in various positions up to general management position. These positions included inter alia managing director of the Kurhaus Baden-Baden with banqueting facilities up to 6.000 people and project manager of the consultancy group Dr. Kaub Group, Munich. Additionally he has started his own consultancy business, “Remy Consult”, advising beverage, tourism and hospitality businesses, and providing executive education to a variety of stakeholders. Prof. Remy runs several applied research projects for the tourism & hospitality industry, inter alia on productivitity for attraction businesses, and on new performance metrics for the hotel industry. He holds membership of the ICHRIE, the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK, and HSMAI, acting as a Board member of HSMAI Revenue Management Advisory Board, APAC. Within his capacity as professor for various universities as well as owner of his consultancy firm “Remy Consult”, Prof. Remy offers and conducts Executive Education training programs, especially in marketing-related areas, such as branding, pricing, revenue management, digital marketing and so on. Most recently he has delivered Executive Education training programs to Singaporean hoteliers, a Cambodian hotel chain, Investors from Russia and Taiwanese hoteliers. Prof. Remy is regularly invited to deliver keynote speeches on relevant and upcoming topics for the tourism & hospitality industry. As a sought after expert in pricing and marketing he also acts as moderator/panelist and speaker at major exhibitions, events and conferences.

Edwin Lau is the CEO of LA-based deep tech company LEDR. LEDR harnesses the power of collective intelligence to aid decision-making, is planning to set up the company’s headquarters in Singapore and use the city-state as a springboard for its next development phase. LEDR was founded to commercialise cutting-edge technology that first originated from US national intelligence agencies. The company creates an up-to-date digital representation of the organisation that gives companies full control of their knowledge assets when collaborating around analytics. This allows companies to generate insights for decision-making without having to centralise or exchange any data.

With experience in multiple Michelin (two and one star) as well as World’s 50 Best / Asia’s 50 Best venues, currently running ACCOR’s largest Food and Beverage operation, with 2100 hotel rooms, (17 Monthly P&L reports / revenue centers) 13 outlets, 32 kitchens. This includes Fairmont Singapore, Swissotel The Stamford and Raffles City Convention Centre. With over 26 years extending across food, beverage & service technology, research & development, business development, strategic planning & consulting, industry education, banqueting & events management, revenue /occupancy optimization; for both B2C & B2B audiences.

Eugene loves learning and growth. He ventured into startups at the age of 21, attempted 3 during his time in NUS and was awarded the prestigious Young Technoprenuership award. He spent a year abroad in Shanghai and has taken part in Hackathons around the world. Together with his team and his experience with digital marketing & growth, problem-solving and execution, StaffAny was founded to transform the future of hourly work so businesses can make time for what matters.

Mr. Eugene T. Yap is an experienced hotelier for almost 4 decades and has been with the Hotel & Restaurant Association for more than 20 years. A graduate of General Managers Program of Cornell University and also holding a Bachelor Degree in Commerce, Business Administration from UST and a Bachelors Degree from School of Law from Manuel L. Quezon University Mr. Yap’s untiring efforts has strengthen the country’s ties with other Asean Hospitality Associations as well as maintaining a unified voice of the Industry to other sectors. He is on his 2nd term as the President of the ASEAN Hotel & Restaurant Association (AHRA) and is the Deputy President of ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) Mr. Yap is a lifetime member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, member of the Corner Hotel Society, General Manager of Bayview Park Hotel and the current Chairman & President of the Hotel & Restaurant Association of the Philippines (HRAP)

With over 30 years in the hospitality industry, Fabien specialises in multi-property management, including hotel openings and stakeholder experience. He has worked for iconic Singaporean hospitality brands like The Ascott Group, Millennium Hotels & Resorts and Pan Pacific Hotels Group before joining Frasers Hospitality to oversee its Asia Pacific operations. As the Vice President – Head of Operations (Corporate), he now oversees the group’s Innovative Experience Unit to pursue his passion of implementing new ideas and trends to create memorable experience for our internal and external customers.

Gavin is the founder and CEO of Ross Digital, a Singapore-based F&B robotics start-up founded in 2017. ROSS Digital is considered the industry leader in its space and has provided proprietary IoT kitchen hardware, kitchen robotics and software solutions to dozens of customers around Asia. As the previous Chief Digital Officer for KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in China, and the previous Partner at Deloitte Digital, Gavin is considered to be an industry thought leader in the field of large-scale digital transformation. Gavin has now taken his passion for technology to help F&B businesses, large or small, to run their operations more efficiently and profitably. After serving his national service, Gavin went on to obtain a degree in Computer Science from Purdue University (USA) and furthered his studies with an Executive MBA in Finance from Tsinghua University (China) and an MBA in Strategy at INSEAD. He holds a string of accolades in helming one of the most remarkable digital transformations in China’s F&B industry. Gavin won the Baidu digital transformation project of the year when he integrated Baidu’s artificial intelligence into KFC’s self-ordering ordering kiosks. At the age of 32, he became the youngest partner at Deloitte China, holding both the role of partner and Greater China Leader for the Digital practice. As the Chief Digital Officer at Yum!, Gavin oversaw the digital transformation of over 8,000 KFC and Pizza Hut outlets in China which featured robotic waiters and scan-to-order QR codes on the restaurant tables to increase efficiency. He also spearheaded the revamp of KFC’s mobile app with ‘pre- ordering’ as its key feature to minimise queues. Under Gavin’s leadership, the app was the most downloaded F&B branded application in 2017 with 150+million downloads and 30+million daily active users. Being a F&B industry insider, Gavin is intimately familiar with the challenges faced by F&B operators. He believes there is an urgent need to expedite the search for solutions that would not only alleviate the manpower problem but ensure consistency in products. Gavin is deeply passionate about the topic of re-skilling and up-skilling workers – F&B employees are meant to do more than just repetitive work. Gavin doesn’t believe in using technology just for the sake of technology, Gavin is a fierce advocate for the F&B industry focusing more on the personal touch and human interaction, and let the heavy lifting be done by the robots. Ross Digital has built products that aim to remove the stress and strain on those in the F&B industry by strategically augmenting manpower with technology in their daily tasks. Powered by AI and robotics, Ross Digital’s products include The Super Manual – the world’s first 5th wave coffee robotic barista, The Robotic Bartender, The Nanyang Kopi Tao Chew that makes Singapore local coffee, The Unmanned Coffee Barista and Custom Units which can be seen at various establishments such as Singtel Comcentre, Razer’s SEA HQ, Kaffe & Toast at Changi General Hospital, Maison Martell boutique at Sanya Phoenix International Airport, Global Premium Duty-Free Plaza and Planet O E-sports Hub in Shanghai, to name a few. Not one who can sit still and do nothing, Gavin can be found at the golf course or riding his bike across the sunny island of Singapore when not building robots.

A seasoned hospitality professional with almost 30 years of operational and marketing leadership experience under his belt, Gino was Vice President Hotel Operations at Pan Pacific Hotels Group before coming on board The Fullerton Hotels and Resorts. Prior to that, he was Area General Manager of the group’s five hotels in Singapore and concurrently General Manager of Pan Pacific Singapore, the group’s flagship property. Gino had also held general manager roles in London, Beijing, Dalian. He commenced his hospitality career with Raffles Hotels & Resorts and was the Resident Manager at Raffles Singapore and the former Raffles Beijing Hotel.

Greg has over 15 years experience in providing hospitality, commercial and residential property valuation and advisory across three international regions. During a diverse career he has advised clients including multi-national institutional property funds, banking and finance providers, REITs, UHNWI’s, investors and developers. Assignments have ranged from regulated financial valuation reporting, financial and mortgage lending advice, due diligence, asset management initiatives, market demand and feasibility studies, operator selection searches, and tourism studies. He has prepared reports and acted as an expert witness for dispute resolution actions in Australia, the UK and Singapore. He is a regular contributor at industry events and online conferences.

Gunalan Ganesan has been in the ventilation industry for the past 16 years and spend 3 years in India, to setup the Indian operation for the Halton. He is largely involved in techno-sales, project management and after sales services of our products. He manages close to 140 employees with different role in the company.

Over 20 years Hannes has been active in the food service industry. During this time he gained great insights from various operational and industry perspectives around the world. Since 2015 his passion is to work on changing the understanding on organic waste processes in the commercial kitchen operations to a more process optimized and ecological future. His claim: “Always keep curious, because we don’t know, what we don’t know!”

Hariyadi B. S. Sukamdani serves as Chairman of the Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association (IH&RA) since 2015 and also serves as the President of the Indonesian Hotel Director of PT. Hotel Sahid Jaya International Tbk. since 2011. Furthermore, Hariyadi engages with several organizations and serves as Head of National Executive Board (DPN) of The Employers’ Association of Indonesia (APINDO) and Vice President of Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN), Department of Public, Taxation, and Fiscal System Policies. Hariyadi graduated from Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia, in 1989 and obtained his Master of Management degree from Universitas Indonesia in 1992. He is also a Registered Financial Consultant from International Association of Registered Financial Consultants, Inc. (IARF).

Heidi Gempel, Managing Partner & Founder of HGE International, Facilitator of Commercial Officer Boardof HSMAIAsia Pacific. Heidi knows first hand the complexities Hoteliers and Restauranteurs face in this fast–changing post–Covid world. For the past 12years,she has worked with hoteliers and owners of independent and larger chain hotels on building and implementing robust revenue management& digital strategies and technology platforms for continuous competitive advantage. She is the founder of HGE International2010, a boutique service firm based in Singapore. She has since had the privilege of serving well know hospitality companies as well as other multinational companies, Start–ups, franchise and independent hotel owners in the region and beyond. She is also a certified Coach and works with industry executives to develop their potential. She trains commercial teams and mentors independent hotel operators and start–ups on business strategy. Heidi is a member and the facilitator of the HSMAI Asia Pacific Commercial Board. The Advisory Board guides HSMAI’s strategic direction as it relates to the Revenue Management, Sales and Marketing discipline, resulting in education programmes, special resources and insights that are specific to the Asia Pacific region. The Advisory Board is made up of senior industry leaders from across the region.

Ian Wilson is the head of hospitality for THE LINE (NEOM). The Line is a proposed smart linear city in Saudi Arabia in Neom, Tabuk, currently under construction, which is designed to have no cars, streets or carbon emissions. Ian Wilson is also CEO of Wilson Innovation Lab.  The company mentors promising start ups and provides consulting services to both industry and governments with a particular proficiency in using data, analytics, automation, and culture to achieve competitive advantage in complex operations.  Ian is currently engaged as the COO for one of the 30 largest hotel companies in the world and is also working with the Singapore Tourism Board on their Singapore Tourism Analytics Network, and their Tourism Accelerator program for start-ups.  He also consults to companies going through the Data Analytics Shift program to help them build data driven cultures. Prior to founding Wilson Innovation Lab, Ian was the Senior Vice President of Non-Gaming operations at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. During his tenure, Ian oversaw more than 5,000 staff and nearly $1 billion in revenue, and he led the property to win the Singapore Productivity Award, the Singapore Quality Award for Business Excellence and to be named the most successful integrated resort in the world. Earlier in his career, Ian led the launch of Fairmont Hotels into Asia overseeing China and South East Asia.  His earlier career included senior leadership roles in operations, revenue management, distribution, and reservations for the company. Ian is the Chairman for the Advisory Board for the Business Analytics Centre at the National University of Singapore.  He is also a former member of the National Healthcare Productivity Expert Advisory Panel, a member of Singapore’s Hotel Innovation Committee, the Industry Transformation Committee for Hotel Industry, and the past President and Chairman of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Ian holds Masters’ and Bachelor’s Degrees in Hotel Administration from Cornell University and is certified as a Journeyman Chef from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Jackie is an experienced senior business strategist with over 20 years’ experience in developing and improving digital products to achieve the best customer experience. Jackie has a strong background in e-commerce, booking engines and other online product development in the travel and hospitality sectors, having developed the first mobile strategy & Product Roadmap for Qantas when heading up Digital Customer Experience. Other senior roles include global B2B and B2C customer experience for Travelclick, Travelocity, Zuji, Voyages Hotels & Resorts and Mantra Hotels Group. Jackie now hold dual roles, continuing to dedicate much of her time to helping the hospitality industry, through her role as President of the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International – Asia Pacific, a 90-year old, non-profit industry association.

Chef Jacob Ng started his journey in F&B when he was 14. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America with a BA in Culinary Arts Management, he has worked in various restaurants such as FOC Restaurant, Gattopardo Ristorante Di Mare and Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters. Currently a Senior Trainer in SHATEC, Chef Jacob is in charge of developing various courseware for PET full-time programmes and CET short courses, as well as the culinary training of learners in the school. He is also the Sustainability Champion of SHATEC, aiming to promote awareness, adoption and application of eco-friendliness and environmental management strategies among the trainees to cultivate graduates who embrace sustainability, both as consumers and hospitality practitioners.

John Ha is the CEO of Bear Robotics, Inc. who has experience in both as a restaurateur and an engineer, and is passionate about revolutionizing the hospitality industry. While John was employed at Google, John opened a restaurant in Silicon Valley where he learned that the restaurant operation is challenging with physically demanding and mundane tasks. As an engineer, John has come up with the idea of an AI-driven food-running robot, and founded Bear Robotics. After 5 years, Bear Robotics is operating globally with high quality robots helping lots of people in the restaurants, nursing homes and retail. Before this role, he was a Tech Lead at Google and Adjunct Professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). He holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from Seoul National University and Ph.D. in Computer Science from The University of Texas at Austin.

Jonathan Lim founded Oddle in 2014 to redefine the F&B industry and has since partnered with some of the most iconic and visible restaurant brands in this region. Oddle was built based on Jonathan’s experiences in the F&B and technology sectors he’d amassed over the last 13 years, including a year-long stint with the National University of Singapore Overseas College (NOC) Programme in Silicon Valley. After opening his specialty grill restaurant The Lawn in 2011, the engineering graduate spotted distinct problem areas faced by the F&B industry and set out to solve them with the creation of Oddle. Combining empathy with technology, Oddle fills the gap in the market by providing accessible and affordable performance-driven solutions that help F&B owners improve and optimise their operations through smart data and meaningful engagement. As CEO and co-founder, Jonathan drives the business’s planning, development, and overall direction with his co-founders Yong Xiang Pua and Alan Goh. To date, Oddle has nearly 5000 F&B restaurants onboard its platform across Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, including 1500 restaurants locally. Under Jonathan’s forward-thinking leadership and knowledge of the hospitality industry, Oddle has grown from a single-solution e-commerce provider to a holistic omnichannel F&B technology company. With a focus of future-proofing F&B merchants, Jonathan’s expertise in the industry makes a positive impact on the food & technology segment with Oddle’s full suite of omnichannel solutions. After successfully establishing Oddle as the market leader in Singapore’s F&B technology sector, Jonathan and the co-founders began to strengthen its presence within Asia Pacific, starting with regional expansion in Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Juan Higueros is the co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Bear Robotics, a company that is paving the road for autonomous mobile robots to work alongside employees of restaurants, hotels, casinos, ghost kitchens, senior living communities, and corporate dining halls. He holds a B.A. in Economics from UCLA and M.B.A from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Kim is a digital marketing professional with over 20 years’ experience within the hospitality industry, whose work focuses on assisting independent hotels and hotel chains grow their revenue through their website development, traffic and revenue generation, channel distribution and reputation management combined with market intelligence and analytics. Kim holds a Master of Science degree in Marketing as well as a Certificate in Hotel Industry Analytics.

Ms Kwee Wei-Lin is Senior Vice President, Hotels at the Pontiac Land Group, a leading real estate development and investment company with over half a century of expertise and experience in luxury property development. The Group has hospitality, office, retail, medical and residential developments spanning Singapore, New York, Sydney and Maldives. Wei-Lin is the President of the Singapore Hotel Association (SHA). She is currently a member of the Future Economy Council (FEC) and a member of its Lifestyle Cluster Sub-Committee. She is a council member of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI), as well as the Singapore Business Federation (SBF). A member of the Workplace Safety and Health Council (WSHC), she is also appointed the Chair of the Hospitality and Entertainment Industries Committee under the WSHC. She is an International Advisory Board Member of the IE Business School, Spain.

With a rich experience spanning across corporate, SMEs, startups and technology advisory , Hong Bin has worked with a wide range of stakeholders for the past 10 years across industries such as F&B/Retail to strategize and implement high impact initiatives and programs. His core expertise include technology selection, experience and process redesign, consumer marketing and business transformation.

Leonard is the Managing Director for Welbilt, where he leads the business in Asia Pacific. He started this foodservice journey a little by accident when he joined his family business, Fabristeel, to help out for a few months. Those few months eventually became 20 years as Leonard progressed through different roles within Welbilt, including leading the finance and marketing portfolios in Asia Pacific. “My time at Fabristeel gave me a holistic experience in the industry, as I had to manage the wide number of stakeholders involved in foodservice. At Welbilt, I get the opportunity daily to work with amazing people, passionate about what they do. It’s an amazing industry, and it boils down to the people that constitute it.” Leonard is driven by curiosity and passionate about developing human potential. His professional vision is “To impact the lives of those I encounter and inspire them to be more than what they thought they could be.”

Marcel Holman joins Pan Pacific Hotels Group in 2022 as Vice President of Operations for China, Indonesia and Japan; as well as General Manager for Pan Pacific Orchard, opening in the first half of 2023. Under the Group, he oversees the operational performance of 13 properties across Indonesia, China and Japan, including those in development. In Singapore, he will helm the opening of the flagship Pan Pacific Orchard, the Group’s next icon of sincere luxury hospitality. Marcel holds extensive experience in luxury hospitality, having worked with IHG, the Shangri-La Group, and Sukhothai Hotels and Resorts, where he was responsible for opening Sukhothai Shanghai as its General Manager. Prior to joining Pan Pacific Hotels Group, Marcel was the Regional Vice President of Operations – China and Managing Director of The Langham Hong Kong.

Chef Mural is a champion for global ‘Asian-Indian gastronomy’, combining traditional Indian preparation methods with a variety of flavours across cultures, resulting in uniquely juxtaposed culinary offerings. Mural’s philosophy is simple – to fulfil his lifelong dream and vision to present Indian cuisine at its pinnacle on an international level, where it can be understood, accepted and respected. Mural led his previous team to garner a Michelin star in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. Mural is the first Indian Executive chef to score a Michelin star for an Indian restaurant in Southeast Asia (SEA). There are 2 only Indian restaurants in SEA to have the honour. In 2020, Mural opened his own Neo-Indian restaurant, Adda in partnership with Genie Collective Group. The unique concept serves elevated Indian cuisine in the heart of Singapore, with a contemporary twist and infusion of local flavours. These include Tandoori-marinated Salmon in a Laksa sauce, signature Butter Chicken Pot Pie, A.F.C (Adda Fried Chicken) and Prata Quesadillas! Mural’s road to where he is today has been paved with many milestones. These include being named runner-up of Channel News Asia’s Perfect Meal and serving the President of Singapore with his standout creation of White Chocolate Semolina Crack Wheat Kheer.

Mario Sequeira, previously the Chair of FCSI Asia Pa-cific Division, is the current President of FCSI World-wide with a wealth of experience and many acco-lades to his new role, heading up the board of FCSI Worldwide. Beginning his career as a qualified chef, he also holds a diploma in hotel management and food technology; a post graduate qualification in corpo-rate management and is a certified Six Sigma Leader in Lean Manufacturing. Highly respected by his peers around the world, Mario takes on this new role with considera-ble experience across the global foodservice mar-ket and cross-sector expertise, developed on a huge variety of projects in his career. As the President, Mario’s vision is to listen to the FCSI membership and work with the Worldwide and divi-sional boards, so all FCSI members globally, have the opportunity to make their businesses stronger, and in turn offer their clients the very best services. Mario heads a niche consultancy practice in Australia offering management and design ad-visory services to various market segments, including Hotels, Taverns, Nightclubs, Healthcare, Mining, Centralised production and Lifestyle living. His firm recently completed an award-winning design of the centralised production facility for Royal Brunei Catering. Mario’s strength is his ability to collaborate and forge meaningful professional and personal relationships with his clients and consultants across many cultures having travelled extensively to all continents around the world. His is passionate about social sustainability and mental wellbeing to make our world a better place for all.

As a graduate of the Blue Mountains International Hotel School in Australia, Matthew served as the VP Operations at the Celtic Manor Resort in Wales for five years and returned to Australia as General Manager of the Shoal Bay Resort and Spa in NSW. Matthew is also well versed in the technology side of hospitality, having served as the IT Manager of Rydges Hotels and Resorts and most recently as the Director, Information Systems at Carnival Australia. Combining Hotel Management and Information Technology, Matthew leads the eHotelier team providing online learning to hospitality professionals around the globe.

Voted ‘Editor of The Year’ at the CMA’s International Content Marketing Association Awards 2020, Michael Jones is Editorial...

Michael holds a PhD in technical sciences and is an expert on anaerobic digestion. His passion for renewable energy does not only drive him on a daily basis, but also fuels his YouTube channel MEIRER Talks Trash. Michael has recently founded an association with the goal to install and operate an anaerobic digestion plant in a 40-foot container in Liechtenstein.

As the CEO of Singapore Productivity Centre (SGPC), Michael leads a team of consultants and professionals to enable enterprises to be future ready through capability development, digital transformation and the creation of new markets. Prior to joining SGPC, Michael was with SPRING Singapore and led the team in policy formulation and development of the food industry. He also headed the Business Leadership and International Partnership Office for Asia Pacific. Prior to that, he co-founded i2u Pte Ltd and Alstra Pacific Pte Ltd, among others, and held multiple senior positions in various organisations in the ICT industry, where he manages a range of business ventures across the region that honed his business acumen and developed a deep understanding and passion for growing enterprises.

Mr Wong Ming Fai joined Singapore Tourism Board on secondment from GovTech in Feb 2021 as its Chief Technology Officer to lead the Technology Transformation Group. He is responsible for formulating and aligning STB’s technology and digitalisation strategies with STB’s mission of shaping a dynamic, vibrant and innovative tourism sector for Singapore. He also works closely with industry partners to support their digitalisation initiatives, transforming tourism-related industries to unlock the value of digitalisation. Prior to his secondment with STB, Ming Fai was the Chief Information Officer at Enterprise Singapore (ESG), where he was responsible for ESG’s digitalisation strategy, data science initiatives and IT management and operations. Ming Fai also served as Chief Information Officer and IT Director at SPRING Singapore. Ming Fai brings with him a strong background in the public sector and deep technical expertise, especially in the area of data science and analytics. He has carried out research on machine learning at Stanford University and leads GovTech’s Data Analytics Practice Group. Earlier in his career, Ming Fai served as an IT Security Consultant with IDA (the predecessor of GovTech), where he monitored the cybersecurity threat landscape, and conducted events to raise IT security awareness in the government. Ming Fai also spent a number of years in the private sector at MOH Holdings Pte Ltd, as a Senior Architect in Singapore’s National Electronic Health Record project, and at Oracle Corporation, as a product manager for a health information exchange product. Ming Fai is a System Design and Management Fellow from MIT, and graduated with a M. Sc, Computer Science from Stanford University and a B. Sc, Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.

Nick is the Founder and Managing Partner of Velocity Ventures with over 3 decades of experience as a CEO, board leader, professional investor and successful entrepreneur in Asia. Prior to founding Velocity Ventures, Nick was CEO of Readymix and ReadyVentures. As CEO of Readymix, he expanded the family business from Australia to Southeast Asia, and built a sizeable presence across Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. Thereafter, as CEO of ReadyVentures, Nick invested S$20 million in over 15 start-ups across Southeast Asia and Australia, achieving successful exits, follow-on investments, and significant portfolio growth. Nick has lived & worked in Southeast Asia since the 1990s. Nick is also a Board Director for several companies, including start-ups in the travel & hospitality sector such as Lumitics & IDEM Hospitality, and listed companies such as Neptune Marine Services & MTQ Engineering. He was previously the Singapore Chairman and Regional Board Member of the Young President’s Organization (YPO), as well as the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Singapore.

Patrick Chan, CEO of Kitchen Haus Group, is a 2nd generation entrepreneur which started as a little known catering company in 2007, and has taken the F&B industry by storm, being the founder of 8 brands. He is the recipient of the 2019 Spirit of Enterprise SOE award and is currently the Vice President of ACAPS, the largest catering association in Singapore. Kitchen Haus Group has changed the perception of traditional brick & mortar business by transforming through innovation and digital technology, embracing and pivoting towards the new norm, while maintaining profitability and future growth. Its group brands cover F&B catering, Ready-to-Eat, Patisserie, Retail and Urban farming (joint venture).

Chef Richmond brings with him over 39 years of banqueting experience in 5-star hotels and convention centres, specializing in ‘today’s modern cuisine’ based on Mediterranean origins with inherent multi-cultural influences. As the Chief Culinary Officer at the Singapore Expo Convention and Exhibition Centre, he is responsible for transforming and overseeing the F&B Division, with a purpose to continually set advanced standards and take the Centre’s dining beyond the standard convention. The transformation of Singapore Expo and Max Atria embraced and infused the ‘culinology’ approach –– a confluence of culinary arts and technology, taking ‘kinetic kitchen’ as a central production kitchen with research and development capabilities. Innovative solutions take on a strong emphasis on technology and accountability to ensure consistent quality, developing new initiatives that will lead to transformational and sustainable changes for engagement and leading edge in the F&B and MICE industries. As a result of working purposefully and of self- awareness, Chef Richmond is also well-versed in fine-dining and conventional banqueting. Prior to the SingExpo, He was the Executive Chef at SUNTEC Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre and the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, in which he developed the kitchen into the largest banquet kitchen in the city state. With a vast banqueting experience involving prestigious and major inter-governmental, royal and high-profile events under his belt, some of his notable achievements include the British Malaysia Chamber of Commerce (BMCC) luncheon for Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, for the 26th and 27th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits, the latter attended by the Heads of State/Government of over 18 countries, including the President of the United States, Barack Obama; Premier of the People’s Republic of China, Li Keqiang; and Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, to name a few. Another aheivement includes The 25th World Gas Conference 2012 attended by over 5,500 political leaders and industry movers. Chef richmond also oversaw numerous high-profile banquets including the 75th Birthday celebration of the country’s late Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew. These notable feats were a result of Chef’s Richmond’s detail orientated nature that led him to discover the unique strength in banqueting, a scope that extensively showcased an aptitude for planning. In addition, Chef Richmond is an award-winning author. His revolutionary guidebook to banqueting, ‘The Stainless Steel Kitchen’ won the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2011 for ‘Best Book in the World for Food Professionals’, was a top 3 finalist in the 10th Annual USA Best Book Awards 2013 and most recently, took third spot in the 20th Anniversary Gourmand World Cookbook Awards – Best of the Best. A Chef Rôtisseur Officer of the Confrerie de la Chaine des Rôtisseurs, Chef Richmond is also a member of Compagnie des Mousquetaires d’Armagnac, Escadron de Malaisie, Certified World Association Chefs Society Judge, Panel of Advisor for Taylor University College and Youth Chef Advisor of Chef Association of Malaysia. He was also the speaker at the Worldchefs 38th World Congress in Kuala Lumpur as part of the World Association of Chefs Societies. He was also instrumental in the setting-up of the Centre’s state-of-the-art kitchens and his achievement of the ISO 22000, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification.For chef Richmond, his philosophy of his profession being “we bring food to life and our life to food”, and his belief in culinology, it is not surprising that he lives by his ‘ICI’ motto which is, “Inspire myself to be Creative and Innovate the future.”

Sam is half American, half British, and was born and raised in Singapore. It can be a slightly confusing identity, even for him, but it is at the core of what makes him tick. He is an avid home bartender, proud parent of 108 plants (at last count), and is one of those people who looks forward to going to the gym. He loves a properly made negroni as well as a good spreadsheet. With degrees in culinary arts and hotel administration from The Culinary Institute of America and Cornell University, respectively, Sam started his career working in kitchens at the age of 16. Before joining EDG, he worked for Horwath HTL on projects across South East Asia, involving everything from hotel feasibility and valuation to tourism projections, business modelling, and market research. In his role as Senior Creative Strategist, Sam applies the rigor of real estate analysis and research to developing market-driven hospitality solutions & brand positioning.

Mr Teh has more than 20 years of experience in sales management in Malaysia and across Southeast Asia countries. He has track record of successfully and consistently achieving sales and profit targets in his previous roles. Currently leading the Professional Business for Malaysia & Singapore. CY holds a degree of Master of Business Administration from Victoria University, Australia.

In his work with GlobalData, Tim provides economic forecasts, consumer insights, channel assessments and business trends to companies looking to expand their business footprint in the South East Asian region. Tim has worked in B2B research and media in Asia since 1992 with organisations such as the Economist Intelligence Unit, Ipsos Business Consulting and Eco-Business. Recent studies and publications include the rise of food delivery in Asean, single-use plastic in food packaging, the regional transition to a low carbon economy and the Asean Economic Community. His opinion pieces and articles have been published in Eco-Business, The Business Times and the Straits Times as well as other regional newspapers. He is a regular speaker and conference moderator for industry and client events. Prior to this, he was a Captain in the British Army where he was awarded campaign medals for active service with the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus and coalition forces in Operation Desert Storm, Iraq. He has an MBA from Henley Business School in UK, and is a registered consultant with the Institute of Management Consultants Singapore. In his spare time, he is an adjunct lecturer in market research at Republic Polytechnic. He also enjoys sailing his trimaran around Southeast Asia’s islands with his family and cleaning plastic debris from beaches and reefs.

Vicky Jian is a Project Director of Horwath HTL and is based in the Singapore office. She joined Horwath HTL in 2014 after graduating from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. Since then, she has helped owners and investors on more than 60 hospitality real estate related projects in 8 countries across the Asia Pacific region, including Maldives, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Philippines and Singapore. She has strong experience in conducting market and financial feasibility studies, valuations, repositioning/renovation studies and destination master planning. Prior to joining Horwath HTL, Vicky worked in various areas of hotel and F&B operations in the US and China.

Vikram Malhi is the CEO and Co-Founder of ZUZU Hospitalitya Singapore based hospitality tech start-up that provides revenue and distribution management platform and services to independent hotels across Southeast Asia. Before starting his entrepreneurial journey,Vikram was Managing Director for Expedia Asia and was instrumental in growing the Expedia brand across11 countries spanning the continent. He spent close to a decade at Expedia,taking on multiple senior level roles including marketing,customer loyalty, operations and general management. In addition to his deep expertise in the online travel and hospitality sectors he is pedigreed in technology and business consulting. He worked at IBM Consulting early in his career and received an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.